Movie Buffs Mourn The Loss Of Silent Films

Most of America's feature-length silent films have been lost because of decay and neglect over the past 100 years, according to a study.

James Hall, Clara Bow and Jack Oakie in The Fleet's In

Of the nearly 11,000 silent films made between 1912 and 1930, only 14% still exist in their original format, the Library of Congress research found.

And 11% of those that survive only exist as foreign versions or on lower-quality formats, meaning an original 20th century art form has all but disappeared.

Silent films were at their peak between in the early part of the century when - before network radio or television - going to the cinema was the most popular form of entertainment.

Anna May Wong in the Thief Of Baghdad

Around 46 million people - out of a population of 116 million people - went to the cinema in the US during the 1920s, according to the report.

Historian and archivist David Pierce, who carried out the study for the library, said few defunct art forms have the resonance of silent films.

"It's a lost style of storytelling, and the best of the films are as effective with audiences today as they were when they were initially released," he said.

Gloria Swanson who successfully moved from silent to speaking parts

"When you take away dialogue from a narrative story, it actually puts quite a challenge upon the creative people involved to tell the story entirely in a visual fashion.

"And it's that limitation, I think, which makes the films so effective."

Famous films now considered lost include Cleopatra from 1917, The Great Gatsby from 1926, Lon Chaney's London After Midnight from 1927, and The Patriot from 1928.

Jack Hoxie in one of the first westerns, Western Whirlwind

Films featuring early stars, including Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford still exist thanks to organisations such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Library of Congress and other archives preserving early films for decades.

But, the study reveals, for every classic that survives, a half dozen have been lost.

Librarian of Congress James Billington wrote in the report that the nation has already lost much of the creative record from an era that brought American movies to the heights of cinematic achievement.

"The loss of American silent-era feature films constitutes an alarming and irretrievable loss to our nation's cultural record," he wrote.

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Japanese WW2 'Mega-Sub' Found Off Hawaii

A World War Two Japanese "mega-submarine" lost when it was scuttled by US forces has been seen for the first time since 1946 after it was discovered off the coast of Hawaii.

The 400ft I-400 Sen-Toku class submarine - the largest submarine built until the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines in the 1960s - was found on August 1 off the island of Oahu.

A submersible operated by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) captured footage of the vessel in more than 2,300ft of water.

Veteran undersea explorer Terry Kerby said: "The I-400 has been on our 'to find' list for some time. It was the first of its kind of only three built, so it is a unique and very historic submarine.

A deck gun is visible on the I-400

"Finding it where we did was totally unexpected. All our research pointed to it being further out to sea.

"It was a thrill when the view of a giant submarine appeared out of the darkness."

The I-400 could carry up to three folding-wing Seiran float-plane bombers launched by catapults from the surface, before it dived under the water again to avoid detection.

Each aircraft could carry a 1,800lb bomb to attack the US mainland, but they were never used.

Only three of the submarines, which had a range of 37,500 miles, were ever completed.

At the end of World War Two the US Navy captured five Japanese submarines, including the I-400, and brought them to Pearl Harbour for inspection.

When the Soviet Union demanded access to the submarines in 1946 under the terms of treaties that ended the war, the US Navy sank the submarines off the coast of O'ahu and claimed to have no information of their precise location.

Using side-scan and multi-beam sonar data, the HURL has now successfully located four of the five lost submarines.

The I-400 was identified by its aircraft launch ramp, deck crane, torpedo tube configuration and stern running lights.

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Ukrainian PM Warns Protesters Of More Force

By Katie Stallard, Sky News Correspondent, in Kiev

Opposition leaders in Ukraine have vowed to continue mass street protests and blockades of government buildings, as the country's prime minister threatened to respond with force.

During a raucous parliamentary session, at times shouted down by opposition cries of "shame" and "revolution", Mykola Azarov apologised for the riot police action, but warned against continued protests, which he said bore signs of a coup d'etat.

In a pointed speech to the chamber he said: "We have extended our hand to you, but if we encounter a fist, I will be frank, we have enough force."

What started as a reaction to the president's refusal to sign an EU trade deal last week, has evolved into a concerted attempt to overthrow the government, fuelled by allegations of police brutality against protesters.

The country's notorious 'berkut' riot police moved in on what had been a dwindling protest camp in the early hours of Saturday morning, beating protesters and journalists.

Hundreds of thousands have surged onto the streets since in the biggest display of mass discontent since the 2004 Orange Revolution, which forced the current president, Victor Yanukovich, from power.

Protesters, particularly from the younger generation, see President Yanukovich's action as a fundamental shift away from a path towards a modern, European Ukraine, back into the hands of their former Soviet masters in Russia.

Boxer Vitali Klitschko walks past police outside parliament

In short, they believe they are fighting for the future of their country.

Mr Yanukovich has insisted that he remains open to negotiation with the EU, but Ukraine's battered economy cannot afford the deal in its current form, particularly given the likely punitive trade and gas sanctions that would follow from Russia as an immediate consequence.

Mr Yanukovich left for China on Tuesday in pursuit of much-needed finance agreements, with aides denying it was a strategic mistake as the country descended deeper into political and financial turmoil.

His government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, but the vast majority of pro-government deputies either abstained or did not vote, in an implicit warning of discontent in the ranks.

At least two members of Mr Yanukovich's Regions Party have already defected over the handling of the protests.

Outside, riot police squared up to protesters who continue to mass outside parliament and the presidential administration buildings.

They have already taken control of Kiev's City Hall, which they have re-named "Revolution HQ" and the capital's symbolically important Independence Square, heart of the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Protesters have been involved in clashes with police

Volunteers have built barricades and parked vans draped with the national flag across roads leading to the square, in an attempt to stop police advancing towards it.

Protesters have set up tents and are distributing donations of food, water and warm clothes, in a sign they are digging in for the long haul despite freezing December temperatures.

"The Orange Revolution laid the foundation for this," said self-employed businessman Yegor Kitov, 45.

"But this movement is stronger because, while then it was political parties that were organising the people, now we are organising ourselves."

Ukraine's Central Bank, meanwhile, has been forced to reassure people that their savings are safe, as the country's currency, bonds and share prices come under severe pressure.

Ukraine faces gas bills and debt repayments next year of more than £10bn. The cost of insuring its debt against default rose to its highest level since January 2010.

The finance minister issued a recorded message via state television insisting the country could continue to meet its debt repayments.

"Ukraine is a reliable borrower and is flawlessly fulfilling, and will fulfil, all of its obligations on time," Yuri Kolobov said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry declined a visit to Kiev for a ministerial conference this week, but urged Ukraine's government to "listen to the voices of its people".

These protests do not represent all of Ukraine - the view in the Russian-speaking industrial regions to the east is very different - but they have nevertheless exposed a faultline in a country still deeply divided between East and West.

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Video Of Man Saved From Sunken Ship Off Nigeria

Footage has emerged of divers discovering a cook who had survived for almost three days trapped in an air pocket in his sunken ship's hull.

Nick van Heerden was on a mission to recover bodies from the sunken Jascon 4 when a hand reached out to him while he was searching the tugboat.

The voice of rescue co-ordinator Colby Werrett is heard shouting: "He's alive, he's alive!"

Nick van Heerden grabs a limp-looking hand and realises: "He's alive"

As the camera pans up through the water, a shaken Harrison Okene is seen sitting in his underwear in the corner of a room, containing a small air pocket.

He reportedly survived for almost three days with no food and a few cans of fizzy drink, trapped 30 metres under the sea.

Mr Okene managed to put on a harness and diving mask

His 11 colleagues died when the boat capsized and sank off the Nigerian coast. It happened in May, but the video has only come to light this week.

The diving team guides Mr Okene into a diving bell

The rescue team reassured Mr Okene and got him to safety by equipping him with a diving mask and safety harness.

At one point Mr Werrett asks Mr Okene his rank and on hearing that he was the crew's chef, the co-ordinator responds: "You're the cook? They always survive" - an apparent reference to a baker who survived the sinking of the Titanic.

The diving team with Mr Okene

Mr Van Heerden then steers Mr Okene out of the sunken vessel and into a diving bell.

Mr Okene posing for photos with his rescuers

An exhausted-looking Mr Okene was happy to pose for photos with his rescuers who also included Andre Erasmus, Darryl Oosthuizen, Guido Graff, Colby Werrett and Tony Walker.

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Pope Francis Was Once A Nightclub Bouncer

The Pope has revealed he once worked as a nightclub bouncer in his native Argentina.

The 77-year-old spoke about his life working the doors at a venue in Buenos Aires during a visit to a church in a working class suburb of Rome.

The pontiff also talked about his experiences sweeping floors and working in a laboratory as a teenager, according to Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

Pope Francis spent four hours chatting to followers at the church of San Cirillo Alessandrino after celebrating Mass on Sunday.

He did not go into details about his career as a bouncer or what experiences it had brought to his current job as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Francis meets the faithful at the church of San Cirillo Alessandrino

Instead, he talked about how his work later in life, teaching literature and psychology, "taught him how to get people back into the church", the paper reported.

Francis said he discovered his vocation to the clergy after confession with a priest he had never met before.

He was asked how he spent his day, and said: "I pray, then I celebrate Mass and then I start work.". He said this  includes reading letters and reports as well as meeting bishops, priests and laypeople.

He said he eats lunch between noon and 1pm, rests for 30 minutes and then works until the evening.

In answer to another question, he admitted feeling stage-fright as Pope while celebrating his first Mass.

"Was I anxious? A little, yes, but everyone was nice. But it's true, having a lot of people in front of you is a bit scary," the paper quoted him as saying.

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Two Skydivers Killed In Mid-Air Collision

Two skydivers have died after colliding in mid-air during a jump over southern Arizona.

Witnesses told police the skydivers' parachutes were open when they crashed around 200-300ft (60-90m) above the ground.

But it is believed that as they collided their canopies collapsed and they plummeted downwards.

Eloy Police Sergeant Brian Jerome said one person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to hospital and pronounced dead there.

A third skydiver was injured, but their injuries are not believed to be serious.

The names of those involved have not yet been released and it is not known what caused the collision.

The collision occurred at Skydive Arizona, a training facility that operates out of the Eloy Municipal Airport, about 60 miles (100km) south of Phoenix.

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Sandy Hook Massacre: 911 Tapes To Be Released

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

Parents of 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting are braced for the release of recordings of emergency service calls made in its immediate aftermath.

The tapes will be released mid-afternoon after the town of Newtown lost a legal battle to block their publication.

"We have been preparing emotionally for this possibility," Newtown councillor Pat Llodra told Sky News.

"We know they will be played over and over again on television and radio and YouTube."

Lawyers for the town argued there was minimal public good to gain from releasing the tapes.

They record the harrowing moments after gunman Adam Lanza burst into the school and began shooting his victims, all aged six or seven as well as six adults, after shooting his mother dead at home.

Residents will mark the anniversary of the shootings this month

But a judge ruled there were no grounds for keeping them secret.

The 911 recordings are unlikely to reveal new details that have not emerged in subsequent investigations.

There is no controversy about the speed of the police response. The first officers were on the scene within minutes of shots being fired.

Their release is a second blow at this hugely difficult time of year. Last week an official investigation recorded in gruesome detail the event that became America's worst school shooting, but failed to find a motive to explain why it happened.

"Every time there's an event that drags us back to that day, it's incredibly painful for all of us and exponentially so for the families," Cllr Llodra said.

Newtown shooter Adam Lanza

The looming anniversary of the shooting on December 14 only makes matters worse.

"The pressure of these three things at the same time is difficult, and especially at a time of year when the atmosphere is meant to be celebratory," she added.

Newtown will be marking the anniversary of the shooting in a deliberately low-key manner. 

There will be no public community-wide events remembering the victims, just family and church-based commemorations, not least to avoid creating a magnet for the media to descend once again onto the small rural town.

Much of the news media has already agreed to stay away for that week to allow families to grieve in private.

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Hizbollah Leader 'Assassinated' In Lebanon

Hizbollah says one of its commanders has been assassinated outside his home in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The militant Shi'ite group said Hussein al Laqis was killed as he returned from work at around midnight in the Hadath district of the city.

Gunmen opened fire with an assault rifle while he was sat in his vehicle in a car park, Lebanese security officials said.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, but died from his injuries.

Hussein al Laqis was killed outside his home in the Lebanese capital

Hizbollah said: "Direct accusation is aimed of course against the Israeli enemy, which had tried to eliminate our martyred brother again and again, in several places, but had failed until yesterday evening.

"This enemy must bear full responsibility for ... all the consequences of this heinous crime."

However, Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, denied his country was involved.

"Israel has nothing to do with this incident," he said.

"These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hizbollah. They don't need evidence, they don't need facts, they just blame anything on Israel."

Mr al Laqis was close to Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a source within the group told the AFP news agency.

His son died fighting Israel in the month-long war of 2006, in which more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and more than 150 Israelis, mainly soldiers, were killed.

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Mexico: 'Dangerous' Radioactive Waste Stolen

A lorry carrying "extremely dangerous" radioactive waste has been stolen in Mexico.

The truck was carrying nuclear waste from a hospital to a storage centre when it was taken in Tepojaco, north of Mexico City.

The UN's nuclear watchdog said the material, cobalt-60, which is used to treat cancer patients, could be harmful if removed from its protective casing.

"At the time the truck was stolen, the source was properly shielded," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.

"However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged.

The truck was stolen in Tepojaco, around 30 miles north of Mexico City

"The Mexican authorities are currently conducting a search for the source and have issued a press release to alert the public."

In theory, the haul could be used in a so-called "dirty bomb" - an explosive device capable of spreading radiation over a vast area.

Experts have previously warned of the dangers posed by large amounts of radioactive material stored in places like hospitals, universities and factories.

In 2012, the IAEA received 24 reports of theft or loss and warned the figure was only the "tip of the iceberg".

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SpaceX's Satellite Launch Is 'Game-Changer'

A commercial satellite has been launched into orbit by private spaceflight company SpaceX - in a mission hailed as a "game-changer".

The move marks the California firm's entry into the commercial satellite market which is globally worth nearly $190bn (£116bn) a year.

The $100m (£61m) telecommunications satellite, owned by Luxembourg-based SES, was launched on top of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Until now, SES satellites have primarily been taken up on Russian Proton and European Ariane rockets.

They cost far more than the $55m (£33m) the company paid for its ride on SpaceX's Falcon booster, SES spokesman Martin Halliwell said.

The rocket makes its way into orbit. Pic: SpaceX

"The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game-changer. It's going to really shake the industry to its roots", he added.

More than 20,000 miles above Earth, the three-ton SES-8 satellite will provide TV, broadband and other communications services to customers in India, China, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia.

Two previous launch attempts last week were scuttled by technical glitches, including a last-second abort on Thursday.

Engineers later discovered oxygen inside the unmanned rocket's ground-based engine igniter system.

"I'd like to thank SES for taking a chance on SpaceX," company founder and chief executive Elon Musk posted on Twitter an hour before the launch.

"We've given it our all."

Afterwards, he said the delivery of the satellite "confirms the upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivers to the industry's highest performance standards".

He added: "We appreciate SES' early confidence in SpaceX and look forward to launching additional SES satellites in the years to come."

SES operates the world's second biggest satellite fleet - 54 in all.

SpaceX has launched six Falcon 9 rocket missions since the booster's debut in 2010.

But most of those were either test flights or missions for Nasa to deliver cargo to the International Space Station using the company's unmanned Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX has a $1.6bn (£733m) contract to fly 12 cargo missions to the space station for Nasa. Two of those delivery flights have already been launched.

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